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When You Feel Creatively Stagnant

a large wooden schoolteacher desk with wall shelves hanging above. There are boxes and baskets on the shelves full of art supplies.

When you have a blog called “The Artyologist”, it kind of follows that you are supposed to be creating Art (with a capital “A”). So what happens when you don’t want to anymore?

A few months ago, I made the decision to pack away my watercolour paints. Not very far, they are just in my desk drawer, but they are gone nonetheless. Out of sight and out of mind.

When I started The Artyologist blog in 2016, my plan was to open an online shop and blog mostly about my art. However, that is not what happened at all! While I do sometimes blog about art and share my photography, I have mostly shared fashion, homemaking and sewing.

Over the past few years I opened a Society 6 shop, a web shop, an Instagram account and even placed my artwork in a local gallery for 4 months… but it didn’t pan out the way I had hoped, and I have now closed all of those avenues (except for my Poshmark shop). While I made a few sales along the way, it wasn’t enough to consider it even as a part time job, and I came to realize that watercolour was a hobby and it wasn’t going to be anything more than that. After I pulled my artwork from the gallery at the end of my agreement last February, I decided that I was going to stop trying to focus on selling my watercolours in hope that my love for painting would be rekindled.

That didn’t happen though.

Instead, when I walked into my beautiful new art space, instead of being excited to open my paint palette and a pad of paper to sketch a new piece, I felt guilty because I wanted to work on sewing projects, or paper crafting or even tidying instead. In the back of my mind was the nagging thought that I “should” be working on watercolours.

So, when so much of what you enjoy doing and identify with as a creative person is tied up in one specific genre of art, is it OK to quit? It is so hard to end a dream, even when you aren’t enjoying it anymore. You question, “Did I really give it my all?”, “Should I have tried harder?”, and “If I was more talented, it would have worked out, right?”

I’ve come to realize that sometimes we enjoy something for a season and then move on from it…and that’s OK. What’s not OK is to feel creatively stagnant, and then stay there.

I haven’t completely gotten rid of my watercolour paints… I’ve been watercolour painting on and off for over 15 years, so I don’t think that I am quitting completely…I’m just refocusing onto other things right now. Somewhere along the way, I just fell into a rut of “I’m a watercolourist” and didn’t feel like I should try new things… but that is the antithesis of creativity!  There are so many other mediums out there.

When I was in high school I loved to do messy scrapbooking and art books. I experimented with paper collage and acrylic paints and ink and ephemera.

Then I really started to enjoy couture sewing techniques and pattern making as I got into vintage clothing. I loved to dream up clothing ideas and then breathe them into being. I started playing around with ribbon and beads and started DIY’ing hats and headbands. Even if I wasn’t using the proper millinery techniques, I created some cool pieces!

In the past few years I’ve really gotten involved in furniture restoration and decorating. I’ve painted some furniture pieces for my home, and crafted home decor to beautify my space. I’ve enjoyed wallpapering and painting, and then putting together displays of my vintage home goods to curate my favourite bedroom I’ve ever had!

All of these are different ways to express creativity. Somehow along the way, I pigeonholed myself into a box: when I was painting I was being an artist, but when I was doing all of the other creative things, I wasn’t.

I want to get back to that feeling of love for creating, even if it’s something I’m not good at and it turns out badly! I want to try new things, and not feel the pressure to promote it. As soon as I “hung up my shingle”, in order to try selling my watercolour, the creativity was sapped and even though I’ve had months and months to start again, for myself, I haven’t found that creative spark again. I’m not decluttering the paints, because maybe in the future I will return to them. But I’ve realized that even if I decide that I don’t want to return to them, then that’s OK too.

Creativity doesn’t need to look like anything in particular, and you don’t have to be defined by your hobby. It is supposed to be enjoyable, after all. If it isn’t fun anymore, then that’s a signal that something needs to change. Over the past few months, after I packed away my paints, I have rediscovered my love for other artistic endeavours. What’s on my desk right now? Mod Podge, and calligraphy pens, and felted wool scraps, and a half finished millinery project, and some pattern pieces, and hot glue and sandpaper and a decorating book, and the ubiquitous cup of tea.

It’s a very random and eclectic assortment of items which tell a story of all of the projects I’ve been working on lately. I’ve begun paper crafting again and making cards. I’ve been sewing some new clothes for my winter wardrobe. I refinished an antique dresser. I’m learning calligraphy…. Creativity doesn’t have to look like one thing, and there certainly isn’t time to feel guilty about not doing one creative endeavour, when there are so many others you can try.

I am widening my horizons and trying new things. The perfectionist in me hates the idea of trying something new and failing at it, but that’s a part of the creative process: we have to try new things in order to learn new things. It takes time and practice, but I’m excited to try out some new stuff. Some of these things might make their way to the blog, and much of it probably won’t, but I am excited about the thought of creativity without the pressure of an audience. It’s just for me, and just for fun; isn’t that what creativity should be?

So, I’ve learned over the past few months that, while it can be hard when one artistic endeavour comes to an end, that doesn’t mean it’s the end to your artistic endeavours!

Well, that’s what I’ve been thinking about lately. I hope that my ramblings about my discoveries over the past while might encourage you today in whatever creative endeavours, or ruts, you may find yourself in.

Have you ever tried a creative endeavour and it didn’t work out how you hoped it would? Have you ever gotten into a rut and felt “creatively stagnant”? Do you find it difficult to try new hobbies? What creative activities are you enjoying right now?

(Ps. I do still have my Poshmark shop, linked in the sidebar or here, with all of the pieces I already had on hand!)

Social Saturday | January 15

gallery wall with a bunch of artwork hanging on it

Hello and happy Saturday, dear Reader. How was your week? Mine has felt a bit hectic, with a big project at work that I’m trying to finish up today. (Plus all the other things of daily life mixed in!) Earlier this week I took some new pieces to my display at the gallery and I remembered to snap a picture of what it looks like right now.

Some of the new illustrations are these three vintage dresses.

framed dress illustrations

I have also added this trio of dresses to my Society6 shop. They are available with or without words as greeting cards and I have prints too. I hope to do more of them, because vintage dress styles are just so fun to draw and paint!

Well, that’s all for this post and I hope you have a wonderful weekend however you spend it.

vintage style dress illustration

‘Tis the Season For Christmas Cards

christmas card of a starry night

‘Tis the season…to start thinking about Christmas cards! I can’t believe we are only one month away from Christmas, and that it’s time to start thinking about cards already. Do you mail out Christmas cards each year to family and friends, or do you think that it’s an antiquated holiday tradition? Personally I love to send out cards for all occasions, not just Christmas! And it’s always lovely to receive some holiday cheer in the mailbox in return, isn’t it?

This year, at the specific request of my mom, I have finally created a Christmas card design. I have added this “O Holy Night” card to my Society6 shop, and it is available in packs of 3, 5 and 10 (with the price/piece decreasing as the volume goes up). And, the best thing is that Society6 is running a sale right now, site wide, so all of my cards are currently 30% off! I believe the sale is running through this weekend, so if you have been thinking of sending out cards this year…now is definitely the time to grab them.

I’ve also added this design available as an art print, in case if you are a person who likes to change out your wall art for the season too.

Merry (early!) Christmas everyone!

Social Saturday | October 23 (Some Exciting News…)

I have some very exciting to share with you this social saturday….I have started to display my artwork at a local gallery!

This is a dream of mine that I have been wanting to happen for a long time, and I made it one of my goals for this year. And now, just a few months away from the end of the year, I have actually taken the plunge and got my photography and watercolours hanging on the walls of the Upper Level Pottery and Art Gallery! I will be there for the next four months (maybe more). I’ve brought just a small amount of work to begin with, but have a few more pieces almost ready to bring and add to the wall. Anyways, that’s all I have to share for today…I hope your weekend is going well!

Social Saturday | July 31

stack of books with a cup of tea on top

Here we are already at the end of July and beginning of August! The summer seems to be going past very quickly- how about for you?

This has been the Year of Reading for me- I’ve just finished book #33. I’ve been trying to spend my evenings reading, rather than browsing the internet. It’s been nice to get through quite a few of the books on my list, although of course, as soon as I cross one off, I find several more to add to the bottom!

vintage copy of Mistress Pat book

I requested Mistress Pat by L.M Montgomery from the library (review: not my favourite of her books, but still enjoyable) and the copy I received was this beautiful first edition from 1935! I love it when they keep older editions of books in circulation, rather than replacing them all with new copies.

mallard duckling

We had some exciting visitors to our place; my sister walked out the back door, and spotted two lost Mallard ducklings in the flower bed! When their mom never showed up, we brought them inside and put them in a brooder, and then my mom brought them to the wildlife rescue shelter a couple days later. They were so tiny and cute, and actually very quiet as well. (At least compared to the chick we’ve got inside; we named him Mortimer, because he never stops cheeping!) They were hard to photograph and got a little bit panicked when my sister picked them up, but I’m glad I got a couple of pictures to remember them by.

three tiny paintings of potted plants

I’ve been working on some more watercolour illustrations; this time houseplants. I’ve been trying out this mini format- just 4″ x 4″ and I quite like it. So far I’ve done a Kalanchoe, a grouping of Cacti and a Pothos.

I’ve added them to my Society 6 shop as greeting cards or mini prints. There are “hello”, “happy birthday” and “thank-you” cards as well as blank ones available. I will also be listing these original paintings in my shop here, but am waiting for some mats I ordered to arrive first (hopefully they arrive soon!).

card with pothos on front

Ps: I’ve also added some more photography prints to my shop, and am slowly adding more as I have the time.

How has your summer been going so far? I hope you have a great weekend!

two card designs with plants on the front